Manchester United 5, L.A. Galaxy 2: What We Can Take Away

A whole lot has changed since the L.A. Galaxy hosted Manchester United at the Rose Bowl in 2014, a match won by the Red Devils 7-0 in front of 86,000 fans. That night in Pasadena, United had the home crowd advantage, and that match was much less competitive than the final box score conveyed.

Tonight, at the the StubHub Center in Carson, there were plenty of tickets available, at a venue that holds about 27,000.

-Here’s the starting lineup, in a 4-2-3-1 formation, that United Manager Jose Mourinho put out there. He admitted, it’s not indicative of what formation and line-up he’s likely to use this upcoming season (as you can see by the wing backs in defense)

Marcus Rashford

Juan Mata Jesse Lingard

Marouane Fellaini

Michael Carrick Ander Herrera

Daley Blind Antonio Valencia

Chris Smalling Phil Jones

David de Gea

-Marcus Rashford scored twice, with his first coming literally two minutes and change into this one. His second came 19 minutes in. The early brace set the tone right off the bat, and that them was another rout, with a final score (5-2) not really conveying the actual one-sidedness of the meeting (just like the Rose Bowl blowout a couple summers ago).

-United put a lot of starters out there at the beginning, in stark contrast to the Galaxy, who commenced this one with a lineup featuring a lot of second-teamers. New signings Romelu Lukaku and Victor Lindelof made their United debuts in the second half coming off the bench.

-This was the first international friendly of the summer and the beginning of United’s 2017 tour. It’s been 52 days since United defeated Ajax in Stockholm in the Europa League Final to claim some silverware.

-David Beckham, who has a strong connection to both of these teams, was in attendance tonight.

-United will next take on Real Salt Lake in Utah on Monday night. It’s their final friendly against a MLS side, before they move on to the International Champions Cup.